A New Astral Body Is Born: The Arnold & Son Nebula

With its latest skeleton watch Nebula, Arnold & Son looks to the stars and the earth in equal measure.

Nebula could well be described as the little sister of the TB88 and last year’s monumental Constant Force Tourbillon, although the movement is different.

The Arnold & Son Nebula

While the latter two timepieces were all about providing superior chronometry, Nebula focuses on the aesthetic side of mechanics, offering a unique take on the time-only skeleton watch.

Like pretty much all Arnold & Son creations of recent years, Nebula is not a watch powered by a fancy iteration of an existing movement, but rather a brand-new movement conceived from the ground up with a specific design and sense of purpose.

The Arnold & Son Nebula

The beautiful symmetry of the result clearly shows as much.

The first thing that grabs you about this timepiece is its visual balance. Void of a dial per se, save for the flange ring and the seconds’ subdial (which actually doubles as a bridge), Nebula is a fascinating and elaborate exercise in creating a striking and truly singular skeleton movement. Its multiple bridges give a nod toward traditional English movement architecture.

Arnold & Son Nebula

Of the ten bridges in the movement, seven are almost identically triangular shaped, skeletonized in the center, and arranged in a way that they appear to radiate toward the center of the movement.

This sort of “exploded” alignment of elements is meant to evoke imagery of an interstellar cloud where astral bodies are born. This is called a nebula.

The Arnold & Son Nebula is symmetrical from left to right, up and down, and front-back

A contemporary take on English movement architecture deserves a suitably modern contrasting finish. The red gold version comes with an ADLC-treated base plate, NAC-grey bridges on the stainless steel model, and a grey base plate with palladium-coated bridges in the red gold version.

The Arnold & Son Nebula

While perhaps more basic in its functions, you won’t find any discrepancies in the level of finish and attention to detail between the Nebula and Arnold & Son’s more complicated pieces.

A pleasant surprise for those who appreciate Arnold & Son’s pieces but find them often a tad too big is that Nebula’s case measures a very wearable 41.5 mm in diameter. Compare this to its larger, more complex siblings the TB88 and Constant Force Tourbillon, both of which measure 46 mm.

The Arnold & Son Nebula is quite a slim, comfortable watch

Nebula is also relatively slim, measuring only 9.73 mm in height.

And, amazingly, the price positioning of the Arnold & Son Nebula makes it perhaps the most accessible piece in the boutique brand’s impressive lineup.

The Arnold & Son Nebula

What it lacks in complication it more than makes up for in distinctive visuals and – of course – impeccable execution.

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[…] And then there’s the very competitive pricing. Arnold & Son is evolving into my perfect brand. The new Nebula, at $14,500 in a very wearable 41.5 x 9.73 mm stainless steel case, is not just a great watch, it’s great value for such an exclusive watch as well (see A New Astral Body Is Born: The Arnold & Son Nebula). […]